Associate Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship
FLSA Status: Exempt
Months Per Year: 12
Employment Status: Full-Time
Seattle University will be one of the most innovative and progressive Jesuit and Catholic universities in the world, educating with excellence at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. We embrace an intersectional framework for defining diversity in its broadest sense, including differences in gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, generational history, culture, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, political perspectives, geographic origin and physical ability. Seattle University strives to be a welcome, open and safe campus climate for all who learn, live and work at Seattle University.
Position Description
The University Advancement Office is committed to creating an anti-racist environment that addresses and works to eliminate inequities and all forms of oppression, while celebrating different cultures. We are looking for team members from diverse backgrounds who demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the complex issues surrounding implicit bias and other systemic oppressions, as well as a commitment to the university’s mission, vision, and values, with the goal of developing an equitable and inclusive work environment.
Purpose
The Associate Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship is responsible for developing and implementing strategies and processes to steward and engage key Seattle University donor constituencies that will improve retention and inspire additional giving. The position establishes processes and best practices for gift fund creation and ensures timely and appropriate use of donor gifts campus-wide in line with donor intentions.
Position Summary
Reporting to the Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship, this position contributes to exemplary donor engagement and stewardship that inspires and motivates donors to continue to build upon their giving. The Associate Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship is responsible for the creation and management of a comprehensive strategy to deliver meaningful impact, fund accountability and engagement for donors supporting scholarships at Seattle University.
This role develops and implements stewardship programs and initiatives for university donors, with focused efforts for the President’s Club and other constituencies with characteristic giving behavior (e.g. loyalty donors). Works to engage with students, faculty and staff for deliverables that best demonstrate the impact of donors' giving and further engage donors with the university. Through oversight of set-up and approval process of endowment and current use fund agreements, in alignment with the university’s gift acceptance and fund tracking processes and policies, the Associate Director ensures that donor funds are being expended annually per donor intentions.
Job Functions:
SCHOLARSHIP FUND STEWARDSHIP AND AWARDING MANAGEMENT (50%)
- Develops and manages a comprehensive stewardship program that 1) engages scholarship students and educates them about the impact of donor philanthropy and the donors supporting their academic journey; 2) provides donors to scholarship funds informative and impactful communications and engagement opportunities with scholarship recipients throughout the academic year.
- Manages scholarship endowment and current use scholarship fund establishment and approval process with internal development and non-advancement university colleagues representing the preferences of Seattle University donors. Provides guidance on university policies and procedures to the advancement team.
- Supports efforts to produce reports and other communication methods for conveying to donors the impact their philanthropy is having on Seattle University students, faculty and the campus community.
- Serves as the division’s expert on Seattle University’s scholarship awarding platform, Scholarship Universe, and leverages the platform’s stewardship functions for communications to students, gathering and distributing student bios and thank you notes to donors.
- In partnership with Student Financial Services and representatives within colleges and schools, ensures timely awarding of scholarships to students meeting donor-designated scholarship criteria.
- Ensures best practices are conveyed to, and employed by, colleges and schools responsible for the selection of scholarship recipients.
- Supervises Donor Relations Coordinator and/or student workers to support the scholarship stewardship program and deliverables.
BEHAVIOR-BASED DONOR RECOGNITION AND STEWARDSHIP (30%)
- Creates and directs strategies for stewarding President’s Club members. Assesses giving thresholds, membership benefits, stewardship objectives and retention strategies, and implements changes and initiatives aimed at growing membership and more deeply engaging President’s Club members. Coordinates efforts with Annual Giving team’s cultivation and solicitation objectives and timelines.
- Oversees Operations and Development Assistant in processing monthly President’s Club memberships, member welcome emails and mailings; parking requests, etc.
- In collaboration with the University Advancement Marketing and Annual Giving teams, executes regular communications to President’s Club members, which may include newsletters, promoting upcoming events with personal calls/emails, and providing curated content for broad campaigns.
- Responsible for developing stewardship strategies to recognize behavior-based and milestone giving, including consecutive (loyal) annual giving, gift total milestones, gift anniversaries, etc. for key donor constituencies.
- Performs regular (at least annual) analysis of constituents classified as ‘permanent stewardship’ or ‘DR permanent stewardship’ to ensure complete and accurate record-keeping to support stewardship activities.
GIFT FUND MANAGEMENT AND STEWARDSHIP (20%)
- Works with University Advancement colleagues and campus partners to document donor intent in alignment with university gift acceptance, and fund tracking processes and policies. Supervises work of Donor Relations Coordinator to route gift and endowment agreements for internal and external signatures.
- Manages endowment and current use fund establishment, providing guidance on university policies and procedures to the university advancement team and non-advancement university colleagues representing the preferences of Seattle University donors.
- In collaboration with Student Financial Services, the Controller’s Office, Associate Provost for Business and Faculty Administration and school/college/unit representatives, ensures that annual endowment distributions and current-use funds are being spent in accordance with donor intentions in a timely and transparent manner.
- Through routine auditing, and development of data input and donor coding processes, ensures integrity in donor data that reflects conditions and qualifications for discrete stewardship activities and communications.
- Maintain a SharePoint resource site that makes available current and relevant endowment/gift data, best practices and peer examples, templates and impact samples that enable greater self-sufficiency of development colleagues in accessing information.
- Working with the director, designs and implements standards and processes for stewardship reporting and further develops systems for tracking these efforts.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, communications, or related field and four or more years of relevant experience in donor relations or higher education fundraising or an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.
- Proven ability to proofread, strong attention to detail and accuracy.
- Ability to prioritize multiple projects and meet crucial deadlines.
- Enjoys working within a flexible team environment and is able to work independently to complete assignments.
- Must have strong organizational, interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
- Skilled with project management and possessing the ability to organize, outline and see multiple projects and stewardship initiatives through to completion on schedule and delivering high level of communication and progress reports to all involved parties.
- Demonstrated success with utilizing technology to complete projects. Specifically demonstrated ease with MS Office products: Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
- Understanding and ability to utilize database programs for extensive querying, exporting, tracking and reporting.
- All candidates must show a demonstrated commitment to diversity and the university's mission, vision, and values.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with university advancement or fundraising operations preferably with donor stewardship in an academic setting.
- Familiarity with publishing and/or design software or the ability to direct designers/writers in the production of donor profiles, reports, newsletters or similar projects.
- Experience working with donors and development professionals to establish endowment and restricted/current use funds.
Application Instructions
Please attach a cover letter with your resume when applying. Job postings are open until filled, unless otherwise specified.
Compensation at a Glance:
Salary Range: $75,000 - $85,000
Seattle University has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what the University may pay for the position at the time of posting. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal salary equity considerations, and available market information, and not based on a candidate’s gender or any other protected status.
Your total compensation goes beyond the number on your paycheck. Seattle University provides generous leave, health plans, and retirement contributions that add to your total compensation package.
Benefits at a Glance:
Consistent with its fundamental Jesuit values, Seattle University offers a wide range of benefits designed to care for the whole person. Choose from three different medical plans, a dental, and vision insurance programs. Protect your income with life, short & long-term disability coverage. Plan for your future with up to a 10% employer contribution for retirement benefits, comprised of a 5% nonelective employer contribution and an additional dollar-for-dollar match of your voluntary contributions up to a maximum of 5%. You may also take advantage of 100% paid tuition benefits for the employee and dependents, a subsidized transportation benefit, a wellness program with free access to an onsite fitness facility, and a wide variety of campus events. Enjoy a generous holiday schedule, including a paid Holiday break closure in December, vacation and paid sick leave, and paid community service leave. For more information explore the Benefits website at: https://www.seattleu.edu/hr/benefits/
Hybrid Eligible*
This position may be eligible for a hybrid schedule after successful completion of an introductory work period of 3-6 months. This may mean that a hybrid eligible role will begin on-campus initially and then will transition to hybrid format following onboarding and training. Flexible work plans are subject to periodic review and may be changed or terminated at any time for any reason at the university’s discretion.
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